Improvement in buckles



JOHN H. MARTIN, OFOOLUMB'US, OHIO.

Letters Patent No. 113,902-, dated April 18` 1871.

i IMPROVEMENT IN BUCKLES.

The Schedule referred'to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a lperspective view of my improved buckle with trace and haine-tug applied to it Figure 2 is a fiout view of the'same; Figure 3 is a vertical transverse section; and

Figure 4, a. vertical longitudinal section of thev same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

The improvement which I have made in tracebuckles which have a sliding or movable tongueplate and inclined ways for pressing this plate against the trace at the. time when strain comes upon the tongue of the buckle, is-

First, casting the buckle with openings directly beneath the inclined ways and between the edges of the inner plate of the buckle-frame, whereby the use of a core is rendered unnecessary, the Weight of the buckle is decreased, and beauty of appearanceis secured.

, Second, casting the tongue-plate with outwardlyprojecting ears or guides in such a manner that the bearing contact between-the tongue-plate and the l inclined ways is' maintained at a point out beyond `loops of the frame.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe .the same.

The plate K of the buckle-frame is oblong and irregular in shape, and has side and end loops D D D for the well-known harness-straps, and also has a front vcross-bar, C, 'tO-which the hame-tng H is fastened.

On the sides of this frame-plate, and extending out laterally, or about ata right angle with the side loops D D, are inclined bars A- A, as represented.

These bars have no support from the frame-plate, except at the points Where they and the side loops unite with one another and said plate, and therefore a free space is left behind said bars and between the edges ofthe plate and the side loops D D.' This is evident from the dotted lines in the drawings at e e, which are intended to indicate that the plate K is reduced in width between thel bars A A. This is done in order .that the inclined ways or side bars A A may be cast withouta core, and thus save a part of the labor and expense of manufacturing buckles which work on this general principle, but are made with the guide-slots cut through solid masses of metal, or cast in the same 'by means of a core.

The ornamental tongue-plate B has ears or lateral guides B B' cast on it, as shown.

' These operate behind and against the sides of the inclined .bars A A of the buckle-frame, as illustrated plainly in fig. 3 of the drawings.

0n the inner sideof this tongue-plate is a tongue or stud, E, designed tol enter holes made in the trace J` to prevent the trace from slipping. This stud also extends through the frame-plate, there being an ob long open slot formed in this plate to permit the passage of the tongue and'allow it to .move with the tongue-plate when the strain comes upon the tongue.

The whole buckle is made of cast metal, and can be produced without a core on accountv of its skele-` ton-like construction.

' The operation of the buckle is the sarne as others which have sliding tongue-plates and inclined guideways or slots, viz., the strain on the tongue and trace hole being relieved by the clamping of the trace between the tongue-plate and plate of the buckleframe, which result is produced by the ears or guides of the tongue-plate bearing against the inclined bars as the tongue-plate slides, and by thus bearing they, with the tongue-plate, are caused to press with great Vforce against the trace.

A A arranged opposite free' spaces which are be tween 'the edges oi' the plate K and the side loops D D, substantially as described.

2. The ears .or guides B' B', cast directlyon the edges of the tongue-plate B in the manner described and shown.

3. The skeleton-like trace-buckle herein described, as a new article of manufacture, such buckle being of cast metal and having an end and side loops, D D D, cross-bar O, side bars A A, and a sliding tongueplate, B F, with-ears or guides B' B', all as herein set forth. y

JOHN H. MARTIN. Witnesses:

. E. VTf DELANY,

W. S. HUFFMAN. 

